The Saint Paul Almanac is a literary campfire around which the diverse Saint Paul community gathers to share their stories. An experiment in democratic publishing, the 2012 Almanac brought together a multigenerational team of 18 volunteer community editors to blind select from 400 submissions the 129 stories, poems, and recipes chosen to appear in the coming edition. Every story has a unique, individual voice which, when combined with other stories in the Saint Paul Almanac, becomes a chorus encompassing all the energy of Saint Paul today. High school students’ work appears alongside writing by grandparents, and first-time writers appear next to Saint Paul literary greats such as Garrison Keillor and Max Shulman. Want to join us for the 2013 edition? In this section

These beautiful hand drawn maps are included with the 2012 Saint Paul Almanac, available for $14.95 in bookstores or in our online store ($17.95 including S&H). The maps are available for $10 (including S&H) as a stand alone 18.75″ x 15″ sheet, printed in full color on both sides.

This is the final piece in the Irrigate project “University Avenue Voices.” Our team met all summer to curate the written pieces (originally published in the Saint Paul Almanac), design, and find the locations along the light rail corridor for the posters and this one big banner.

The banner was designed by Shaquan Foster with professional guidance by Michael Waite. The photo of Kofi Bobby Hickman was taken by Tobechi Tobechukwu. The rest of the team: Lisa Steinmann, Diego Vázquez Jr., Patricia Young and Kimberly Nightingale.

Kofi Bobby Hickman was born and raised in Saint Paul and has remained a lifelong resident of the city. He directed the Inner City Youth League for twenty years and has been a community activist for over forty years. The oldest enrolled student at Metro State University, he is soon to graduate with a bachelor of arts degree. Read Kofi Bobby’s story “The Brawl in St. Paul” on this site. Please, walk or drive by the Old Home building at University and Western (map below) to see this grand banner.

Visit Golden’s Deli in Lowertown to see some of the posters (below) created for the same project.

Photos courtesy Diego Vázquez Jr. and Nigel Parry.

Location of the banner at University and Western avenues

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